For Bayern, Awesome Again Stakes is time to shove all in
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita is a Win and You’re In race toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic. For Bayern, the race is pretty much Win or Go Home.
Bayern won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, but his four starts this year have been gross disappointments. Twice he has finished last, he beat just one horse another time, and in his best performance, he finished third. It’s an ugly ledger for a horse who after last year’s Classic was the front-runner for Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male.
Bayern will get a glorious chance to bounce back on Saturday at Santa Anita. The Awesome Again is run over a track at which he is 3 for 3, and none of his seven rivals can come close to matching his early speed.
If Bayern can win, he likely will get a chance to defend his title in the Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. If not, his retirement to stud at Hill ’n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky could be imminent.
“This is a make-or-break race for him,” said trainer Bob Baffert.
The Awesome Again is the last of six stakes to be run on a blockbuster 11-race card that kicks off an abbreviated fall meeting at Santa Anita; first post time is 12:30 p.m. Pacific. Five of the races are Grade 1, $300,000 events, and all five are Win and You’re In races toward Breeders’ Cup races Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland.
Nyquist, the West’s best 2-year-old male, is the headliner in race 5, the FrontRunner, which is a prep toward the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Two-time champion Beholder, the nation’s best older female, will be an overwhelming favorite in race 7, the Zenyatta. That is a prep toward the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, though Beholder – who beat Bayern and Awesome Again runners Hard Aces, Hoppertunity, and Imperative in the Pacific Classic – is being pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Songbird, the dazzling winner of the Del Mar Debutante, tops race 8, the Chandelier, the West’s major prep toward the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Hard Not to Like ships in from New York to take on local stars Elektrum and Sharla Rae in race 9, the Rodeo Drive, for females aiming at the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
The Awesome Again is race 10. At 1 1/8 miles, it is an ideal prep for the 1 1/4-mile Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Hard Aces already has earned a berth in the Classic via his victory in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita in June. For the rest, this is a pivotal race, none more so than Bayern.
KEY CONTENDERS
Bayern (Last 3 Beyers: 80-100-57)
◗ This likely will be the first time this year he has found himself on an uncontested lead, and if he gets brave, he will be tough to run down.
◗ In all of his previous races this year, he faced severe early pace pressure and could not shake loose. He will be let roll from the start from his outside post.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Bayern. Trainer Bob Baffert is 30-9-6-4 with a $2.83 ROI over the past two years in dirt routes in the third start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Smooth Roller (Career Beyers: 93-94-87)
◗ An argument could be made that most of the marquee names in this race – like Bayern – have seen better days, which makes an up-and-coming though unproven runner like this guy a tempting alternative.
◗ His last race was deceptively good. In only his third lifetime start and his first in a stakes race, he stumbled badly at the start but got back into the race and wasn’t beaten all that badly by Awesome Again rivals Point Piper and Global View. In addition, he likely will be closest to Bayern in the early going and should get first run on everyone else.
Hoppertunity (Last 3 Beyers: 99-100-99)
◗ He made a mild run to finish a distant fourth in the Pacific Classic.
◗ He has done his best racing at Santa Anita, where he won the San Pasqual earlier this year and suffered a brutal defeat against Hard Aces in the Gold Cup.
Hard Aces (Last 3 Beyers: 93-99-99)
◗ He never really fired in the Pacific Classic, finishing sixth in his first start on that track, but his two prior races, both at Santa Anita, were good.
“He’s had three weeks up here since Del Mar ended. He’s run well here before, and I think he will again,” said trainer John Sadler. “He didn’t handle the track at Del Mar.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Hard Aces. Trainer John Sadler is 18-7-0-2 with a $3.36 ROI over the past five years in dirt route graded stakes in Southern California in the second start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Imperative (Last 3 Beyers: 98-102-92)
◗ It was a tall order to come into the Pacific Classic off a four-month layoff, and though he was only fifth, he very well could have been second with a better trip.
◗ This will be his second start since moving to the barn of trainer Richard Baltas.